Are they working chimneys? Only a few of them show tell-tale signs of usuage. There can't be that many households still rely on coal for heating or cooking. I don't think you can buy coal in Oxford they way we buy firewood for heating at the servo here. Can you?

I spent about a year living in Newcastle in 1970. One of my housemates was a keen train spotter and he also knew where the train boneyards were. We visited a few and in the process picked up bags of coal along the tracks. We used the coal for heating. That's my only experience in using coal as a fuel.

Comment by DL — April 2011

A lot of the chimneys wouldn't get used at all, and the ones that are probably only have fires lit on special occasions. I don't think it's legal to use coal for heating or cooking - that was a big contributor to the terrible smogs the UK used to get.